Direction & Consistency
I was reading the book "Madhushala" by Harivansh Rai Bachchan. I found one verse to be interesting and thought to share my views on it with you all.
The author in the book uses examples of Madhu(wine), Saki(a lady who serves the wine) and Madhushala (wine shop) which are considered to be not so good in Indian society and teaches philosophical lessons of life from verses.
Verse:
मदिरालय जाने को घर से
चलता है पीनेवाला,
‘किस पथ से जाऊँ’ असमंजस
में है वह भोलाभाला;
अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब
पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ…
‘राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल,
पा जाएगा मधुशाला |
Literal interpretation
Drinker leaves the home for the wine shop. But he is confused about the path. Everyone suggests a different path. The author says to take a Single path and keep walking, you will find the wine shop.
My interpretation
Millennials often have the problem to find the best path for their future. With thousands of opportunities and people giving different opinions, it makes us think about what can be the right path for us.
The author metaphorically suggests taking one path in your life and keep walking till you find your destination(Madhushala).
My opinion differs here. Taking one path does not work anymore. So what should we do?
Life as a bunch of experiments
The problem with passion and goals is that it makes you blind to other ideas.
Experimentation should be your motive in your early career. Try out as many things as you can, learn new skills and move on if you don't like them.
Discovering your passion requires you to jump from one skill/field to another till you feel like you can give your life to it. Sitting at your home, doing your regular work and talking about passion will do no good.
Directions and not goals
The goal is overrated and the right direction is underrated.
In your 20s, being clear about goals is rare or rather it is ignorance. Unless you have tried different fields and worked on multiple ideas or roles, you won't have clarity on what interests you.
Having some direction early in your life like how you see yourself after 10 years, what kind of work suits you, and what industry you want to be in will help you define your life more comprehensively. Rather than sticking to work directly associated with your qualifications.
It's okay to be not sure about goals. Make sure that you are going in the right direction. An idea about the right direction comes from experimentations.
Think projects and not a career
The problem is that we see a career as a lifetime project. People attach their qualifications to life and don't see other options. Your job is your lifelong project.
See your career as a project. Best way to learn this is by freelancing. You get a client, do the work, take experience and move to another project.
For me, writing a book was a project, later moved to blog, workshops, newsletter and building fintech. I see this as a project/isolated unit from where I gain experience and use it later.
Career growth (lifelong project) is linear whereas thinking in projects will give you exponential growth.
This does not mean you should leave your job. Start something small which can be finished in 1 year or so. Start a side hustle, follow your hobbies or anything that interests you.
Consistency for several years
Well with direction, consistency matters a lot. If you are learning new skills, give 6 months to 1 year to acquire that skill and get to an intermediate level. If you find joy in it, continue doing it else jump.
This advice has one issue i.e. you need to start from zero for the new idea. But this will develop your personality holistically.
You will have a range of experience in various domains of life. And help you later develop a broad view of life.
To summarize,
- Experiment in your early life rather than sticking to one option
- Think in terms of projects and not a career
- Focus on direction, eventually, the goal will be clear
- Put efforts consistently into a single project for some period.
Finding Passion/Goal (Madhushala) = Experiments + projects + consistency